Eversheds Sutherland delivers strategic, commercially grounded counsel across the full lifecycle of public-private partnership infrastructure projects, including tenders, concessions, design-build arrangements, joint ventures and financing.
P3 infrastructure deals often present complex challenges in negotiating optimal risk allocation among public and private entities for capital-intensive projects. In parallel, participants must adapt to changing dynamics with respect to funding innovation, procurement complexity, and heightened stakeholder and public scrutiny. These shifts create both legal challenges and new opportunities for project sponsors, lenders, and public authorities. You benefit from integrated, commercially grounded guidance that supports your objectives across the full lifecycle of infrastructure development and delivery.
Drawing from our firm’s deep, global bench of experienced practitioners in infrastructure projects, construction, finance and regulatory compliance, you’ll work with a multidisciplinary team that understands how transportation projects are financed, procured, and delivered in today’s market. From early structuring, bidding and tenders through financial close and long term operations, you gain practical advice that helps you manage risk, align stakeholders, and deliver investment ready infrastructure with confidence.
You can rely on us for:
- supporting your competitive tenders for P3 concessions
- structuring financeable, resilient, and procurement ready transportation and P3 projects
- strategic risk allocation across public and private stakeholders
- guidance on innovative funding and delivery models, including:
- government-sponsored credit programs like TIFIA and RRIF for U.S. P3 projects
- private activity bonds and project bonds
- multilateral-backed and/or export credit–supported transactions in emerging markets
- managing risks associated with revenue/user-pay/tolling and availability payment-based concessions
- support across asset classes commonly developed under P3 arrangements for transportation, social and other infrastructure, including:
- toll roads and managed lanes
- bridges, rail systems and transit-oriented development
- parking systems
- airports, logistics corridors, and multimodal networks
- shipping and marine terminals
- wastewater treatment, transport and desalination
- energy generation and transmission
- stadiums and other public event venues
- other social infrastructure such as healthcare, education and housing
- counsel tailored to your role, whether as a public authority, financial arranger or underwriter, developer, design-build contractor, lender, or credit provider
- market-tested insight informed by a global track record of delivering successful, investment ready transportation assets
With the growth and evolution of P3 models worldwide, you need a trusted and experienced legal partner to navigate this market sector. Our practitioners have worked extensively on public infrastructure and P3 models in almost every continent in the world, and you benefit from that integrated, global know-how to help you execute and succeed in your P3 initiative.
Project Finance
- Major U.S. Highway and Toll Road Financings (Georgia, Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland): advised on multiple large-scale highway, bridge and managed-lanes P3 financings across the US, with aggregate deal values exceeding $7 billion. Our work includes representing federal credit programs and state toll authorities on some of the largest TIFIA loans ever issued, advising lender consortia and financial arrangers on managed-lanes and toll road P3s, and counseling underwriters of tax-exempt private activity bond issuances for concessionaire joint ventures. These transactions involved TIFIA and RRIF credit assistance from the US Department of Transportation's Build America Bureau, senior and subordinated debt structures, complex intercreditor arrangements, innovative toll equity mechanisms and revenue-backed repayment structures, and working with state departments of transportation. We have also advised on related compliance matters, like Buy America, Davis Bacon and other procurement and regulatory issues.
- International Highway, Bridge and Rail Financings (France, UK, Chile, Panama, Greece, Ivory Coast, Portugal): advised lenders and sponsors on significant transportation financings internationally, including high-speed rail and motorway concessions in France with financing packages exceeding €935 million, a major bridge PPP in the UK, regional airport concession financing exceeding €1 billion in southern Europe, toll road financings in Latin America with development finance institution support, and a toll bridge financing in West Africa backed by multilateral lenders and MIGA coverage.
Consortium / Concessionaire, Bidder and Other P3 Representation
- Transportation P3 Bids and Concessions (U.S.): represented bidder consortia, concessionaires and infrastructure investors in competitive procurements and acquisitions for major US transportation assets, including a $9.5 billion airport terminal PPP (the largest of its kind in US airport history), long-term university parking facility concession valued at over $483 million, toll road acquisition bids and joint venture matters on a landmark urban bored tunnel replacement project. Our experience covers the spectrum of P3 models, including DBFOM and long-term concession structures across multiple states.
- International P3 Bids and Concessions (UK, Poland, Southeast Asia, West Africa): advised on competitive bids and concessions for airports, toll roads, rail and highway assets internationally, including road project bids in Wales, airport acquisitions in the UK, tram line PPPs in Poland, high-speed rail bids in Southeast Asia and BOT concessions for port and terminal infrastructure in West Africa.
Other Transportation-Related Matters
- Rail and Transit Infrastructure (US, UK, Brazil, Chile, Poland): advised lenders, public authorities and private sponsors on rail and transit matters across key jurisdictions, including rail projects finalized with RRIF credit assistance from the Build America Bureau, a services contract for a $64 billion high-speed rail program in the western US, cross-border passenger rail between the US and Canada, light rail project development in Latin America, metro expansion rolling stock procurement in Chile, a multi-billion-pound mainline station redevelopment and related rail program in the UK, multiple UK rail passenger franchise competitions and direct awards, and European tramway rolling stock procurements.
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Electric Transmission Utilities and Cooperatives (Georgia and Southeast US): served as outside counsel to one of Georgia’s largest electric transmission owners, having provided interim general counsel services covering governance, regulatory, operational and commercial matters. We continue to advise on transmission-related financing and capital markets transactions, including the remarketing of nearly $95 million in pollution control revenue bonds supporting major generation and transmission infrastructure. We also advise electric generation and transmission cooperatives more broadly on project structuring, grid expansion, contracting and regulatory compliance.
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Offshore Wind Transmission and Grid Infrastructure (New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Wyoming, Nevada): advising on some of the most significant US transmission developments, including representing a major offshore wind transmission joint venture in a historic state-level competitive process to deliver 7,500 MW of offshore wind generation through a regional transmission organization, an approximately 800-mile HVDC backbone cable project along the Outer Continental Shelf, an 800 MW offshore wind interconnection project in the Northeast and onshore wind generation and transmission development in the Mountain West. We have also represented buyers in the acquisition of high-voltage transmission systems and related substation equipment.
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Cross-Border and International Transmission (US–Canada, UK–Germany, Chile, UK): advised on major cross-border and international transmission projects, including a $1 billion cross-border HVDC transmission line facilitating hydroelectric and wind power exchange between the US and Canada, an award-winning €3 billion first-of-its-kind electricity interconnector between two major European markets, a 1,346 km HVDC transmission line in South America with 3,000 MW capacity and over $1 billion in capital expenditure, and multi-billion-pound upgrades to a national electricity transmission system.
- Water and Wastewater P3 Projects (US, Chile, Jamaica, Barbados, UK, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE): advised public authorities, utilities, lenders and sponsors on water and wastewater projects delivered through long-term P3 and design-build-finance structures globally. Relevant work includes a major US university water and energy systems concession, a desalination plant and water supply system in northern Chile (multiple Deal of the Year awards), integrated water, power and transmission infrastructure for one of the world’s largest mining operations in South America, the first water treatment P3 delivered through a 25-year concession in the Caribbean with multilateral and development finance institution support, a first-of-its-kind sustainability-based sovereign debt refinancing for water infrastructure in the Caribbean, multi-billion-pound water utility capital investment programs in the UK, a $900 million design-build-finance transaction for water treatment facilities, and water and wastewater PPP advisory for national utilities and government ministries in the Middle East.
- University and Institutional P3s (Georgia, Ohio, Idaho, South Carolina, Iowa, Midwest US): represented public universities and private investors in concessions for student housing, parking, water, energy and utility systems. Our work includes the first statewide university housing privatization of its kind, covering nine campuses with $237 million in new development and freeing up $550 million in institutional credit capacity. We have also advised on comprehensive university energy P3s structured as first-of-their-kind partnerships, energy asset concessions with international infrastructure sponsors and campus ground lease and student housing developments.
- Government PPP Programs and Social Infrastructure (US, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UK): advised governments, national utilities and development finance institutions on PPP programs covering water, energy and transportation-adjacent social infrastructure. Relevant work includes wastewater PPP advisory for a national public works authority in the Middle East, water sector restructuring for a government ministry in the Gulf region, project financing for a major hospital complex PPP in Turkey with international development bank support, telecom and smart city P3 procurement advisory in the western US and K-12 capital program construction contracting for a major metropolitan school system funded through a $500 million sales tax program.